DAY 263 - CHATEAU THIERRY TO LE FERTE SOUS JOUARRE: 18.3 MILES (36,600 STEPS)

Tuesday 10 January, 2012

18.3 miles (Total: 2521.3 miles)– 36,600 steps (Total: 5,710,801 steps)

Good old Hotel Hexagone had CNN on the TV, so I watched the analysis of the New Hampshire Primary. Elections are a wonderful thing—I have been a candidate in twelve of them and there is nothing like the excitement of a campaign, the team effort in the campaign and the inevitable ups and downs. Then getting virtually instant feedback from the Ballot Box as to how well you have done in getting your messages across.

I have contested twelve elections and only won one (Langbaurgh, 1992) which just shows that the electorate do have impeccable judgement and I do give a very good concession speech. I am rather hoping that soon I will be contesting elections for the House of Lords, even though past performance would suggest that I would have little or no chance of chance of being elected to it.

True, I have had more success in running elections for others than I have in running myself; this is because I am not a leader, I am a follower, and can summon much greater effort, insight and intuition when campaigning for someone (e.g. David Cameron) or something (e.g. Olympic Truce) whom/which I truly believe in.

“Democracy,” in the words of Winston Churchill, “Is the worst form of government apart from all others that have been tried.” The ingenious Greek idea that those required to abide by the law should have a say in deciding whom should make it, is up there along with: the wheel, fire, the worldwide web and sliced bread as the greatest of all human discoveries.

The winning candidate is more often the one who taps into a national mood or desire. In the case of Mitt Romney, this is his business background and a belief that a successful businessperson can turn around an unsuccessful economy. This is his pitch and his team need to hammer it for all they have got. I must confess that if I was asked to join one of the presidential campaigns, then it would be for Barack Obama, even though my political instincts probably lie on the other side of the isle.

I think Barack Obama has more going for him, just the fact that an African American called Barack Obama can be elected president of the United States, says something good about the American people and something great about him. This was confirmed, in my view, when he refused to release pictures of the assassinated Osama bin Laden, even though it would have been massively in his political interests to do so.

I recall an anecdote told by Kelvin McKenzie, former editor of The Sun, about a dinner conversation with Lord Ree Mogg, distinguished columnist of The Times, and Rupert Murdoch, Proprietor. Lord Rees Mogg is attributed to have lamented that he had yet to meet a prime minister with a ‘First Class brain’, to which Murdoch is said to have replied, as only a proprietor would dare, “You’re not so bloody smart yourself ‘Moggy’.” When I heard it, I thought wouldn’t it be wonderful to be governed over by someone who had a ‘first class heart’ and when I see Barack Obama, like Ronald Regan, I think that America may have found one and will not easily want to let it go.

Added to this, negative campaigning works: we don’t like to talk about it, but if someone says 99 nice things about a candidate and one bad, we will remember the one bad. This is human nature. In politics we do well to follow the biblical injunction to be ‘wise as serpents and gentle as doves.’ Mitt Romney is the Republican front runner because his political adverts destroyed Newt Gingrich and he is now trying to return the compliment. Obama needs to lay into the Republican fiscal record under ‘W’ and the big business record under ‘Wall Street’ in contributing to the recession. I am sure it will be a close race, it always is, but I think I would be happier as a Democrat strategist in the West Wing of the White House right now, than as a Republican strategist in New Hampshire.

One final thought on political elections and leadership: It is in the nature of modern politics that candidates promise to pass new laws to change the country for the better. I am not sure about this. At Westminster we have been passing at least twenty to forty laws a year for over hour hundred years. Law making reached a new peak under the Blair years when new laws and regulations were coming into force at a rate of 3000+ a year. Surely, if it ain’t on the Statute Book by now, is it really necessary?

If I could put a plaque on the prime minister’s desk in Downing Street then it would probably read: ‘Leadership is not about the legislation, it is about inspiration.’ By all means scrap laws, but don’t make more, as they invariably cost more and deliver less than planned. Moreover, emphasising laws suggest that our success or failure lies in rules rather than in how well you play the game – just ask Thierry Henry what consideration he gave to the finer points of Section 118 (iiiv) of The Rules of Association Football when he slotted his comeback winner past the Leeds goalkeeper last night.

I have had the great privilege of knowing well a number of successful entrepreneurs’ and I can’t think of a single one who contemplated the marginal tax rate or the latest raft of regulations from Brussels before setting up. Such was their determination to succeed, they found a way through and when they encountered a locked door they didn’t waste time whinging, they went around the side to look for an open window and usually found one.

Leadership is the judgements you make and the confidence you inspire. David Cameron could give up legislating from now until polling day and he would probably be re-elected by a landslide because he is by far the best all round leader we have; he has demonstrated great judgement tested under fire; he has built a great team around him whom he trusts to do their jobs and above all, he inspires confidence nationally and internationally.

The people of Britain and the United States have chosen well and whatever the vagaries of snap shot, mid-term approval ratings, the electorate will respect that it is inspiration rather than legislation which counts. Every time: except perhaps for those running for president of the Law Society.

Oh yes; and I walked 18.3 miles, not much happened. I found a reasonable priced hotel with wi-fi, a buffet breakfast, close to a Macdonalds, and a bed was thrown in as a bonus.